Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance

269 Pages·2021·5.553 MB·English

by  Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Debra Riley Parr

Olfactory Art and the Political
in an Age of Resistance
This book claims a political value for olfactory artworks by situating them squarely
in the contemporary moment of various forms of political resistance.
Each chapter presents the current research and art practices of an international
group of artists and writers from the United States, Canada, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Thailand, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The book brings together new
thinking on the potential for olfactory art to critique and produce modes of engage-
ment that challenge the still-powerful hegemonic realities of the twenty-first century,
particularly the dominance of vision as opposed to other sensory modalities.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in contemporary art, art history,
visual culture, olfactory studies, performance studies, and politics of activism.
Gwenn-Aël Lynn is a transdisciplinary artist who builds interactive installations that
combine scents, sound, and technology to pose questions about identity, culture, and
the political.
Debra Riley Parr is Associate Professor in the Art and Art History Department at
Columbia College Chicago. Her current research concerns olfactory art and design in
contemporary culture.
Cover image: Gwenn-Aël Lynn, Untitled 2020
Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies
This series is our home for innovative research in the fields of art and visual studies.
It includes monographs and targeted edited collections that provide new insights into
visual culture and art practice, theory, and research.
Liquid Ecologies in Latin American and Caribbean Art
Edited by Lisa Blackmore and Liliana Gómez
Contemporary Art, Photography, and the Politics of Citizenship
Vered Maimon
Contemporary Art and Capitalist Modernization
A Transregional Perspective
Edited by Octavian Esanu
Art and Merchandise in Keith Haring’s Pop Shop
Amy Raffel
Art and Nature in the Anthropocene
Planetary Aesthetics
Susan Ballard
Imaging and Mapping Eastern Europe
Sarmatia Europea to Post-Communist Bloc
Katazyna Murawska-Muthesius
Arts-Based Methods for Decolonising Participatory Research
Edited by Tiina Seppälä, Melanie Sarantou and Satu Miettinen
Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance
Edited by Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Debra Riley Parr
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-
Advances-in-Art-and-Visual-Studies/book-series/RAVS
Olfactory Art and the Political
in an Age of Resistance
Edited by
Gwenn-Aël Lynn and
Debra Riley Parr
First published 2021
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Debra Riley Parr;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Debra Riley Parr to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lynn, Gwenn-Aël, editor. | Parr, Debra, 1958– editor.
Title: Olfactory art and the political in an age of resistance / edited by
Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Debra Riley Parr.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021000286 (print) | LCCN 2021000287 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367544751 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003092711 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Odors in art. | Art—Political aspects.
Classification: LCC N8234.O36 O44 2021 (print) | LCC N8234.O36 (ebook) |
DDC 701/.03—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021000286
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021000287
ISBN: 978-0-367-54475-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-55274-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09271-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
The editors dedicate this book to the memory of Sabina Ott.
Gwenn-Aël Lynn dedicates this book to Christiane Barrier Lynn
and James Earl Lynn.
Debra Riley Parr dedicates this book to her parents.

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Contributors xiii
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction 1
GWENN-AËL LYNN AND DEBRA RILEY PARR
1 Olfactory Politics in Black Diasporic Art 10
HSUAN L. HSU
2 Perfumes, Shea Butter, and Black Soap: The Smell of Resistance 22
DEBRA RILEY PARR
3 Common Scents, a Social Sense of Smell: Orientation,
Territory, and the Evidence of Beings 32
PITCHAYA NGAMCHAROEN
EDIT BY VINITA GATNE AND BETHANY CROWFORD
4 The Political Potential of Smoke 44
GWENN-AËL LYNN
5 Olfactory Resistance at the End of the World 56
ELEONORA EDREVA
6 Eco-olfactory Art: Experiencing the Stories of the
Air We Breathe 65
CLARA MULLER
7 Olfactivism: Scents in the City and Beyond 76
JIM DROBNICK
8 Is There Empathy through Breathing? 99
DOROTHÉE KING
viii Contents
9 Olfaction as Radical Collaboration 108
LINDSEY FRENCH
10 Chrysanthemum Powder and Other Interspecies Scent Rituals 119
D ROSEN
11 Eat Your Makeup: Perfume, Drag, and the Transgressions
of Queer Subjects under Capitalism 131
MATT MORRIS
12 Scented Bodies: Perfuming as Resistance and a
Subversive Identity Statement 146
VIVEKA KJELLMER
13 Women’s Smell: Towards a New Representation of the Body 157
SANDRA BARRÉ
14 Scent and Seduction: The Power of Smell in the Stories
of Katherine Mansfield 169
DOROTHY ABRAM
15 The Olfactory Counter-monument: Active Smelling and the
Politics of Wonder in the Contemporary Museum 182
BRIAN GOELTZENLEUCHTER
16 Shaking Off Disinterested Contemplation: Toward a
New Aesthetics of Smell 195
LAURYN MANNIGEL
17 Malodors and Miasmas: The Political Potential of
Working with Smell 210
ALANNA LYNCH
18 Enteric Aesthetics 223
ARNAUD GERSPACHER
Index 235
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Renée Stout, The Seduction (2010, detail), two-plate etching 15
4.1 View of Oceti Sakowin camp, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation,
December 2018 44
4.2 Fire Is Form. Performance. Pine tree scent station, 2018 48
4.3 Fire Is Form. Performance. Crow feather fan for sage cleansing, 2018 48
7.1 Top: Ant Farm, Air Emergency (1970), view of Earth Day
performance with Andy Shapiro and Kelly Gloger in front of the
Clean Air Pod on the plaza at the University of California, Berkeley.
Bottom: Santiago Sierra, 500 Cards with Blattodea Pheromone
(2007), detail of postcard with cockroach pheromone, sealed in
silver foil, 15 × 21 cm (6 × 8. in), edition of 500 78
7.2 Top: Peter Hopkins, Perfume Site: Trench #2 (c.1987), olfactory
intervention into an empty lot in the East Village, New York
City. Bottom: Perfume Performance: Bridge Underpass (c.1987),
olfactory intervention under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway,
New York City 83
7.3 Top: Michael J. Bramwell, Building Sweeps–Harlem (1995–1996),
view of performance. Bottom: Hayley Severns and Angela Rose
Voulgarelis Illgen, Meaning Cleaning (2008), view of performance 85
7.4 Top: Caitlin Berrigan and Michael McBean, The Smelling
Committee (2006), view of smell tour performance. Bottom:
Proboscis, Robotic Feral Public Authoring (2005–2006),
prototypes being tested in London Fields 89
7.5 Top: Proboscis, Snout (2007), Mr. Punch and the Plague Doctor,
mock carnival in Shoreditch, London. Bottom: Amy Balkin, Public
Smog (2004–ongoing), detail, digital image of clean air park over
Los Angeles, June 2004, created by purchasing Coastal Reclaim
Trading Credits, 24lb. NOX at $4.25/lb 91
8.1 Michael Pinsky, Pollution Pods, Trondheim, 2017 103
9.1 Reconstruction – Smoke (Pittsburgh), David Gissen, 2006 112
9.2 Donora Women’s Club Social Activities Scrapbook, 1948 113
9.3 Hays Woods / Oxygen Bar, Laurie Palmer, 2005 114